Pigeon eating Red Kite at Lake Farm.

I spent a few hours at Lake Farm today, first of all with Sue and Jasper the bird-dog, and then with Corinna and Mark.

 

Sue told me some very interesting news. The work on building the new school has been halted while archaeologists examine a section of a wall that has been uncovered. What will this mean for the new school, or for Lake Farm in general ? Only time will tell. The huge great yellow machine that I've seen there on my last three visits, has gone, as have all the construction workers. All that remains is a solo portaloo, and large dug up areas surrounded by fencing.

 

Sue and I had a wander around the gated off construction site. The new school is meant to be built to one side of the path that cuts across the park, but deep trenches have cut across the path and into an area where I 100% know, Skylarks nested in this year. Looking at the state of the ground now, the Skylarks wont be nesting in that particular area next year.

 

Above. Is this the mysterious 'wall'  (middle of photo) that has stopped construction at Lake Farm ?

 

Below. The area to the right of the path is not part of the new school. Its not meant to be built on.

 

Bird-wise, it was fairly quiet for Sue and me. We watched a couple of Linnets posing for a while, and tracked down a skulking Common Whitethroat.

Linnet

 

Common Whitethroat

 

Jasper the bird-dog

 

Sue and Jasper left shortly after, and Corinna joined me for a wander. We found a small group of juvenile House Sparrows within the construction site. They had vacated the area when the construction work began, but now its all quiet, they've moved back. Juvenile male below.

 

Mark joined us at this stage. We had a gander around the BMX track, and were rewarded with six Linnets and a solo male Northern Wheatear (below).

 

 

We were chatting by the BMX fence when Corinna noticed all the feral pigeons go up at the other end of the park. Amongst them was a much bigger bird, and as it pulled away from the flock we realised it was a Red Kite. And it had prey. When we first saw it, it was quite near the ground, so our only assumption was that it had swooped and caught one of the many feral pigeons that feed there. Or maybe there was a dead pigeon already on the ground, and the Kite had come down and taken it. Either way whoever was driving or walking along Botwell Common Road, must have had quite a shock witnessing that !

 

 

The Kite flew over to where we were, but annoyingly chose to soar close to the sun so sadly my photos are not clear, we could see more detail through our bins. The Kite was plucking its prey while soaring on the thermals. We really thought it would try to find somewhere to land to finish eating, but it didn't, and by the time it soared away towards Stockley Park, it had completely eaten its prey, bones and all. Red Kites are capable of digesting bones and large feathers. The Kite we saw today did pluck a few feathers, but certainly not all of them.

 

 

 

 

I've watched Red Kites from Watlington Hill, and seen them often going over Cranford Park, and Lake Farm, but I have seen them pluck and eat on the wing. I'm glad that three of us witnessed this behaviour. I don't think anyone would have believed me if I'd been on my own !!

It was all about the Hobbys at RSPB Rainham

After the successful meet up on Monday with some of my Facebook mates, and with the two out-of-towners, Tony and Mark, happy to stick around, today we visited RSPB Rainham.

 

 Its one of my favourite sites to visit, with great wildlife, great cakes and great staff (I have to say that as I know Howard V reads my blog !). But seriously they are great staff, friendly and knowledgeable and incredibly helpful.

 

So today's outing included myself, Corinna, Susan, Valerie, Tony and Mark. Sue and her friend, another Sue, were also on site but as they arrived later due to traffic, we only really saw them at the end of the day.

 

Corinna and myself were there extra early, but apart from a closely showing Little Egret by the pedestrian bridge, we didn't see much else.

 

 

After we all met up, we went off primarily in search of Water Voles for Mark, but alas, none were  to be seen today. There were plenty of caterpillars around though, nearly all of the same species. Valerie knew what they were, but I neglected to make a note of the name....

 

 

We also saw, and heard, a few Marsh Frogs.

 

 

Ruddy Darters were abundant.

 

 

And we found a pair of bonking bugs. Again, I'm not entirely sure what these bugs are, I'm guessing a species of Shield Bug, but feel free to correct me.

 

 

Grasshoppers were also out in numbers.

 

 

And despite the cooler weather, there was the odd butterfly about still. This Small Tortoiseshell below I will always associate with Valerie. We first found it on the gravelly path, then Valerie said it'd look better on a buddleia. It must of heard her, as it took off and landed on a buddleia shrub in front of us !

 

 

Then came the wonderful Hobby experience. We had already seen two distant Hobbys, but as we neared the Shooting Butts hide, we saw another one much closer. Quickly we darted inside the hide, and for the next hour or more, we watched at least four Hobbys swooping and swirling catching prey. We were even lucky enough to have one land in the short grass in front of the hide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I only had my short lens (75-300mm), the others had 400mm and 500mm lenses, so I can only imagine what fantastic shots they must have got.

 

On the way back round to the café, I had to take a phone call and whilst on the phone I spotted this scruffy individual, a Common Lizard shedding its skin.

So a really enjoyable and long day, with great company, and fantastic Hobbys. 

Overdue visit to the London Wetland Centre with The Look Out Unofficial Facebook crowd.

I hadn't been to the LWC for quite a while, what with work commitments and my sprained foot, but when my dear friend, Tony, said he was coming down south for a few days from Norfolk, it seemed only right to organise a meet up at the LWC with some other members of the Look Out - Unofficial LWC facebook group.

 

Sadly not everyone could come, which was a shame, especially as another good friend, Mark, was planning on coming down from Southport, as a surprise. For those that did make it though, I can safely say we all had a good day. So Paul, Sheila, Sue, Xtine, Maggie, Tony B and our guests of honour, Tony S and Mark, this blog is dedicated to you lot tonight :)

 

Our day started really well with Sues finding of a large Wasp Spider. Each year more and more of these harmless spiders are seen on site. Their distinct 'zig zag' web is just about visible in my photo, and this one has only seven legs.

 

 

The grazing marsh had two juv Green Woodpeckers on it for most of the day. We were watching them from the Peacock tower and the Wildside hide.

 

 

 

dancing in the rain.....

 

 

Around the Wildside, we also saw several Common Lizards, but they weren't in the mood to pose for photos. The one below was a quick snap shot before it darted off.

 

 

On one of the bridges we found these Ruddy Darters hanging from the side. They were pointed out to some other visitors with children. Luckily the kids didn't bother saying the words 'what are they doing ?'. We also saw lots of large dragonflies, but not one settled for a photo.

 

 

Tony B found a nice bug by the Explore area, but Im not sure which species it is.

 

 

From the Peacock tower we had some lovely views of Common Snipe. We were told this morning by the staff that there were 19 spotted before we got there. We managed to find four !

 

 

 

Mark found the pair of Yellow Wagtails below. Sadly none of my photos came out that well, it was so hard to focus on them as they are so small and continuously moving.

 

 

 

We were incredibly lucky with the weather, the one and only time it really poured down, we were comfortably sitting in the Wildside hide watching one of the juvenile Green Woodpeckers dancing around. We also had a fleeting glimpse of a Northern Wheatear, thanks to Tony S, and some distant views of a Spotted Flycatcher in the tall trees behind the Explore toilets. All in all a very pleasant day with great company. 

Seaching for Spot Flys at Lake Farm......

My friend Sue, had a very productive few hours at Lake Farm yesterday, seeing Whinchat, Wheatear, Common Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat and at least two Spotted Flycatchers. Earlier in the week Dave Morris had five Spotted Flycatchers, Black Redstart, Lesser Whitethroat, Whinchat, Common Redstart and Garden Warbler. My other friend Tony recently had a Spotted Flycatcher at nearby Cranford Park. I, on the other hand, have yet to see a Spotted Flycatcher ever !! So with hope in my heart I made my way to Lake Farm this morning, and met up with Sue and Jasper the bird-dog.

 

For the first half an hour, we saw hardly anything. Lots of Magpies and Woodpigeons around, a juvenile Green Woodpecker was rooting for ants, a nice flock of c40 Starlings were cloud formatting and a couple of Linnet flew over. Surprisingly there was also the odd solo butterfly around. I saw Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood.

 

 

 

We stopped at my favourite bench, where last spring I watched Common Whitethroats nest near by, and were chatting away, when a small lbj flew up from the scrub and perched on one of the spindly dead trees. My first Spotted Flycatcher ! It didn't stay long and flew off to the other side of the copse. With cameras at the ready, Sue, Jasper and I walked around to the other side. A small narrow path cuts through one corner of the copse, and there we found one Spotted Fly perched obligingly close to us. The light was doing us no favours though, and I've had to heavily lighten the two photos below.

 

 

 

Again the bird didn't stay still for long, and soon flew back to the other side where we had just come from. Again, we followed suit, and again the little lovely happily came back into view. A few times we saw a second bird, and there may have even been a third. They were feeding well, and very active. Going by the sightings from Dave and Sue, these Spot Flys have been around for at least four days now. I'm not due back at Lake Farm until Wednesday, but hopefully these gorgeous little migrants will stay a bit longer before flying back to Africa for the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Else where, the new school site seems to have come to a stop. The area is fenced off, and deep channels have been cut into the ground, but no more work has been done. The House Sparrow community that occupied the corner of the plot before the destruction began, has now gone.